Is Not Knowing the Capital of Canada a Problem?

[MikeG]

I very much doubt it.

Sorry....has access to an atlas or globe would have been more accurate, I think.

 

[Parsman]

Numbering added by me.
I'm pretty certain that this is well known. But as far as I know England is still its own country, like any other country in the UN.

Mudcat, no "England" isn't in the UN, except as part of the UK. Though to be fair, that kind of ignorance is the kind of thing that has brought us to the independence referendum for Scotland next year.

 

[Craig B]

And if they regard it as being much more meaningful knowledge than it actually is, in practical terms?

No, it's just something one might expect a Belgian or a German to know about! It's not meaningful or useful perhaps. It's simply information that one might expect them to have inside their brains, because they have necessarily been exposed to it.

 

[Meed]

Let's not forget that some youtube video interviewing a handful of students (we can only guess as to how many were edited out) is hardly a scientific study of the geographic knowledge of American youth.

 

[Brian-M]

And I'm guessing most people would guess Melbourne or Sydney if asked the capital of Australia.

To be fair, even we couldn't decide which of those two to make our capital. That's why we created a new city to be our capital halfway between them. It makes it equally inconvenient for people from either one to get to.

 

[Craig B]

Mudcat, no "England" isn't in the UN, except as part of the UK. Though to be fair, that kind of ignorance is the kind of thing that has brought us to the independence referendum for Scotland next year.

In many cases it isn't "ignorance". Who is considered the most influential author on the topic of the constitution of the United Kingdom? Walter Bagehot. What is his book on this subject called? "The English Constitution". So the most authoritative writing on the constitution of our country was composed by a person who didn't know the country's name. Not a good start! But of course he knew it. He paid no attention to it.

Bagehot was writing in 1867, one hundred and sixty years after the establishment of Great Britain as a political entity. Imagine that the greatest German expert on that country's constitution undertakes to write a book in the year 2030 - one hundred and sixty years after the unification of Germany - and calls it "The Prussian Constitution". Would the Bavarians put up with that? No wonder Scotland has been brought to an independence referendum! The wonder is, it took so long.

 

[theprestige]

No, it's just something one might expect a Belgian or a German to know about! It's not meaningful or useful perhaps. It's simply information that one might expect them to have inside their brains, because they have necessarily been exposed to it.

So... is not knowing information one hasn't been necessarily exposed to a problem?

Is it a problem if some (many? most? almost all?) Americans haven't been necessarily exposed to information about the capital of Canada?

I mean, that question is the topic of the thread, after all.

 

[Craig B]

So... is not knowing information one hasn't been necessarily exposed to a problem?

Is it a problem if some (many? most? almost all?) Americans haven't been necessarily exposed to information about the capital of Canada?

I mean, that question is the topic of the thread, after all.

I quote simply don't believe that educated citizens of the USA have never read a newspaper or seen a news broadcast on TV which names the capital of their neighbour Canada.

 

[jaydeehess]

And as I said, there is nothing plausible that will happen in Ottawa that will radically alter those oil exports. Will there be a Canadian oil embargo? I think not. For the average American, there is little likely to happen in the Canadian government that will effect them. Like I said in another post, what is unimportant today may become important tomorrow. If Canada declares war on another country, believe me, Americans will take the 30 seconds it takes to reacquaint themselves with the capital to the north.

"Keystone" a proposed pipeline to carry crude fromCanada to the refineries of the Gulf of Mexico.
"Northern Gateway" proposed pipeline to carry crude to Kitimat B.C. in order to ship it to Asia

Decisions made in Ottawa, Edmonton, and Victoria, as well as Washington D.C., that may well be of some interest to Americans for several reasons.

 

[Mudcat]

I mean, that question is the topic of the thread, after all.

It might be the specific question posed by the thread but it's not the limit of the thread. You could just as easily ask "Is it a problem not knowing the capital of Wyoming?", and in my opinion the answer to both questions is no.

 

[The Shrike]

I'll tell you why it's important to know the name of Canada's capital city: I just put it on today's quiz as a 2-point bonus. Two students (out of 24) got it correct; both admitted to having seen this story in the news today.

Most popular answer? "Quebec"

Weirdest answer? "Denmark"

 

[jaydeehess]

Frankly a similar knowledge test should be done at, say, University of Toronto, asking students what the Capitol of the U.S.A and/or Mexico are.
I expect the results would be better than those described in the O.P.

 

[The Shrike]

While I wholeheartedly endorse all of that, I don't see how knowing the name of the capital of Canada is especially helpful for any of that. All of those things can be better understood, and appreciated, without knowing that Ottawa is the capital of Canada (though you'll probably learn it along the way).

It isn't, but I suggest that not knowing the Canadian capitol is highly correlated with ignorance about the other far less trivial things I mentioned concerning our polite neighbors to the north.

 

[theprestige]

I quote simply don't believe that educated citizens of the USA have never read a newspaper or seen a news broadcast on TV which names the capital of their neighbour Canada.

I'm sure they have. I wouldn't be at all surprised if they haven't done so often enough, or with enough importance attached to retaining it, to cause them to retain it.

After all, if it's not advantageous to remember it, then it's going to take a lot more exposure to ensure retention.

And actually, I listen to the news at least twice a day, and frequent an assortment of news-related websites daily, but I can't remember the last time I encountered a story about Canada that mentioned its capital by name. To be honest, when this thread first started, I couldn't recall it.

And so what? Is that a problem?

Obviously I can remember all kinds of things, including vast amounts of trivia. Ottawa as the capital of Canada just didn't happen to be one of those things. What, exactly, is the problem?

 

[jaydeehess]

I'll tell you why it's important to know the name of Canada's capital city: I just put it on today's quiz as a 2-point bonus. Two students (out of 24) got it correct; both admitted to having seen this story in the news today.

Most popular answer? "Quebec"

Weirdest answer? "Denmark"

Copenhagen, right, wait, what was the question?

I really don't get the references in this thread that suggest Quebec is the capitol of Canada. Does this indicate another very erroneous belief that French is the primary language in this country?

 

[jaydeehess]

Given the coverage lately, I am surprised many Americans don't think Toronto is the Canadian capitol.

 

[theprestige]

It isn't, but I suggest that not knowing the Canadian capitol is highly correlated with ignorance about the other far less trivial things I mentioned concerning our polite neighbors to the north.

And yet, I'm knowledgeable about all the things you listed, but I didn't happen to recall the name of the Canadian capital when this thread first started.

All this fetishization of trivia has some hilariously absurd implications:

"Hey did you hear about the stupid decision the Canadian government made regarding the Keystone pipeline?"

"Actually, I was reviewing their decision just now. It makes sense when you consider factors like--"

"Hold on a moment: Do you know the name of the capital of Canada?"

"Can't recall it offhand. Anyway, as I was saying--"

"Shut up. You're obviously ignorant about the Keystone pipeline."

 

[joesixpack]

"Keystone" a proposed pipeline to carry crude fromCanada to the refineries of the Gulf of Mexico.
"Northern Gateway" proposed pipeline to carry crude to Kitimat B.C. in order to ship it to Asia

Decisions made in Ottawa, Edmonton, and Victoria, as well as Washington D.C., that may well be of some interest to Americans for several reasons.

What decision made in Ottawa will have more effect on the Keystone pipeline than any decision made in the states? Ottawa can't claim immanent domain over US soil. The entire Keystone Pipeline debate is in regards to where it crosses the US.

 

[joesixpack]

Frankly a similar knowledge test should be done at, say, University of Toronto, asking students what the Capitol of the U.S.A and/or Mexico are.
I expect the results would be better than those described in the O.P.

Two problems with this question; First off, Canadians get far more news from the economic giant to their south then Americans get from the northern neighbor with 1/10th the population and GDP.

Secondly, the Capital of Mexico is "Mexico City". Pretty ******* easy to remember. Maybe more people would know the capital of Canada if it were called "Canada City".

So in short, there would be nothing similar at all about those two questions.

ETA:How many Canadians know the capitol of Belarus or Ecuador? That might be more fair a question.

 

[lobosrul]

ETA:How many Canadians know the capitol of Belarus or Ecuador? That might be more fair a question.

Neither of those share a 4,000 mile long border with Canada (over 5,500 if you count the Alaskan border).

Also the capital of Belarus is Minsk. I honestly did know that one without checking. Ecuador is... yeah I don't know that one.